


It Was Always You

by distant_rose



Series: Ro Writes One-Shots [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bounty Hunter!Emma, Detective!Killian, F/M, Fluff, Like Actual Fluff Bomb, Modern AU, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 06:47:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13699086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distant_rose/pseuds/distant_rose
Summary: Four words completely change Emma Swan’s frienship with her favorite police detective Killian Jones when she drops off one of her skips on Valentine’s Day.





	It Was Always You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ForestIyari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForestIyari/gifts).



> I am a woman of my word and may the record reflect that. I promised @forestiyari a gift if she completed some productive tasks and that gift is this little one-shot here. I’ve taken some cues from the wonderful @katie-dub and started a policy of positive enforcement. Which is why she’ll get a ficlet too if she ever finishes her fic. It’s sappy but I know that Amy loves fuckstruck!Killian and cop AUs and this kinda has those elements. This is more bounty hunter!Emma and detective!Killian. I apologize for the Killian focus on this, Amy, but I love him as much as you love Emma. Forgive me. A special thank to @welllpthisishappening for always being my cheerleader. I am nothing without your support.

As a bounty hunter in a big city, Emma has her choice of police districts to drop scum off at, but she has a preference for District D-14. This preference was born of a variety of reasons but mainly because it was close to her apartment and the fact its employees could actually brew a decent pot of coffee. It had absolutely nothing to do with the detectives who worked there, despite popular belief. 

“Brought us another winner, eh Swan?” Detective Killian Jones asked as she unceremoniously pushed her perp onto his desk. He didn’t blink at the action, merely leaning back in his chair and chewed on the end of his pen as he regarded her. The perp in question let out a groan and glared at her. She ignored him in favor of giving the detective a smirk. 

“Thought you would enjoy a Valentine’s Day gift.”

He eyed the tight red dress she wore with a tiny smirk of his own. “And what a gift it is. You look quite ravishing in red.”

“I meant the perp, Casanova,” she retorted with a roll of her eyes. Her words were stern but lacked heat. Detective Jones loved to flirt, but he was relatively harmless. He always backed off when she asked.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the thought, but I prefer my gifts to be, well, less criminally inclined. What did this guy do?”

“Oh you know, my favorite - credit card fraud, insurance fraud and hasn’t paid child support in two years. He’s quite the catch.”

A muscle jumped in his jaw as she listed off the perp’s less than stellar rap sheet. She had known Jones and his partner Nolan for three years and he always got this look whenever she brought in deadbeat dads. He seemed to have an intense hatred for them that Emma could only assume came stemmed from something personal.

“Right,” he sighed before he stood and yanked the man up by his collar. “Let me get Lover Boy here processed then I’ll get you the necessary paperwork, so you can finally pay your rent.”

“Actually rent is paid for this month. This guy is paying off my water bill.”

“I’ll make haste then. I would hate to deprive a lady of her hot water. It will only take a few moments. Make yourself at home,” he replied, nodding his head towards his swivel chair.

“Don’t mind if I do. New chair? Looks comfy.” She sat down in the chair in question, leaning back and grinning up at him.

“Only the best Ikea has to offer.”

Her eyes lit up at that. “You bought this yourself?”

“You really think BPD would spend money on the care and comfort of its detectives?” He snorted. “Come on, Swan, you know how it is. We had to pool the money ourselves for that bloody coffee machine you’re so fond of.”

“I know. I pitched.”

“Did you now?” He seemed surprised by this. She couldn’t imagine why. She was here all the time. 

She shrugged, allowing herself to melt into the soft leather of the chair.

“I use it more than anyone else here, so I felt it was best that I threw in a few dollars.”

“You do seem to exist purely on coffee and poptarts, love.”

“Not true. I also feed on the tears of scumbags. They have great nutritional value.”

Detective Jones laughed at this. “Mercenary.”

“Bail bonds, actually. Get it right, Jones.”

“Can you please stop with the flirting and get on with the processing? I would like to be out of these cuffs now,” the perp gritted out through clenched teeth.

They both blinked, suddenly remembering Emma’s purpose for being at the station in the first place. 

“Right,” Detective Jones said gruffly, pushing the man forward. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

  
“I’ll be here,” she responded, picking up the stress ball on his desk and playing with it absently. She made a valiant effort not to watch his ass as he walked away with her perp. Jones had a swagger in his step that screamed confidence and Emma would be a liar if she said she didn’t enjoy it.

As the minutes ticked by, she finally noticed that Detective Nolan wasn’t present. She frowned. It wasn’t like him to not be on shift, especially during the week. Normally he made the wait more bearable by talking to her as he did his paperwork. She liked him a lot. He was like the big brother she never asked for and was always willing to lend an ear whenever she needed to vent about something, including his partner.

Along with her increasing boredom, she was beginning to regret wearing the thin jacket she had chosen to go along with her honey trap outfit. It looked great on her but didn’t do much against the bitter cold of Bostonian winter weather, even when she was indoors. Perhaps Jones wasn’t being glib when he said that BPD didn’t care much for the care and comfort of its officers. It was practically frigid.

She leaned back more in the chair, glancing up towards the ceiling. The back of her head made contact with Jones’s leather jacket - the same jacket that he had been offering and she had been refusing to use for the past three years. What she had seen as a symbol of Jones’s attempts of chivalry was suddenly a temptation.

He wouldn’t mind. That was the first thing that popped in her head. In fact, she was pretty sure he would like it. Perhaps too much. She bit her lip, mulling over what was more important getting warm or her pride. 

She glanced around the station. No one was paying attention to her. It clenched her decision. She would wear the jacket, if only for a few moments to stave off the cold, then she would put it back and Jones would be none the wiser.

The smell of tobacco, rum and aftershave wafted up to her nose as she pulled the leather over her shoulders. She was shocked at how it seemed to swallow her person, especially since Jones wasn’t that tall. Unable to resist, she pulled the collar of the jacket to her nose and took a quick sniff.

“That’s a good look on you, love.”

She froze. Blood warmed her cheeks and a sense of mortification took hold. Taking advantage of the sliver of courage she still had, she glanced up at him, expecting to a teasing smirk or a flirty joke.

Jones wasn’t smirking. Or even smiling for that matter. He was looking at her like he had never seen her before; eyes watching her intently and shoulders tensed. She didn’t know exactly how to handle it.

Immediately, she pulled at the sleeves.  His eyes widened when he realized what she was doing, and he stepped forward, raising a hand.

“Don’t.”

She paused, looking back up at him.

“Don’t,” he repeated. “Leave it on. It looks like you need it more than I do. Please.”

“You sure? It’s fucking cold in here.”

He shrugged, dropping the processing documents in front of her and casually dropping back in Nolan’s chair. His eyes never lost their intensity, still focused on her. She was almost ashamed at the fact it made her squirm a bit in her seat.

“The cold doesn’t bother me,” he said after a moment. “I’m kinda used it.”

“Good for you, Elsa.”

He smiled at her response and the strange feeling in her chest lightened at the sight of it. Some of the odd tension that between them lifted alongside his lips, which she was grateful for.

“Where’s Nolan?” She asked, trying to further expel the weird energy between them.

“Ah. He’s out with the lovely Miss Mary Margaret. No doubt romancing her with a bouquet of roses, a box of chocolates and a very expensive meal at an overpriced restaurant.”

“Sucks that he took time off while you’re stuck here.”

“Actually, I wasn’t supposed to be on rotation. I volunteered to take this shift. My mate Will, or Detective Scarlet as you know him, was supposed to be working but I took it from him, so he could finally perform that half-baked proposal he’s been putting off for weeks.”

Emma’s jaw dropped.

“You seriously volunteered to work the Valentine’s Day shift? For real?”

“Of course,” he replied, giving her an odd look. “It’s not like I have someone to share it with.”

“I don’t believe that for a second. I mean, look at you. There has to be at least a dozen women who would want to lock you down,” she responded, gesturing towards him.

Jones tilted back in his seat, letting out the most boisterous laugh she had ever heard. When he glanced back at her, his amusement was still quite evident on his face.

“Did you just insinuate I’m attractive, Swan?”

“Oh please, cut the bullshit. You know you are.”

“You’re right. I’m quite devilishly handsome, aren’t I?” His eyes twinkled with mischief as he spoke.

“Don’t push it,” she snorted. “But seriously, there has to be someone you’re remotely interested in.”

He sobered at bit at her comment, the tension in his shoulders returning.

“Oh, I am.”

“And?”

“She’s turned me down. Multiple times.”

“She tell you why?”

“No, actually. I just assume she’s not interested, which is fine. She deserves much better than the likes of me,” he replied with a self-deprecating smile.

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s the truth. She deserves the best.”

As he spoke, an odd emotion wormed itself into her chest and she was surprised with how uncomfortable she was about Jones being hung up on some unknown woman. It wasn’t like he was hers.

“Well, I think you’re pretty great. And maybe you should ask her again,” she responded with a tight smile. 

“You think so?”

“Yeah. Maybe, she’ll realize that she made a mistake.”

Jones regarded her intently for a moment, picking up the rubber band ball on Nolan’s desk and started toying with it in his palm. It was a nervous habit of his that she had long since picked up. 

“Do you like Italian?”

She couldn’t hold back her surprise at the change in subject. She didn’t know where he was going with this, but she decided to humor him. “Yeah. Who doesn’t?”

“There’s a really nice Italian place three blocks from here. A bit on the expensive side but worth it. Family owned. Would you like to go to dinner with me?”

Her jaw dropped at the question. She stared at him for a long moment, trying to find words but failing.

“I’m sorry? What?”

“You. Me. Good Italian. Tonight.”

“I’m so confused right now. We were just talking about how you’re hung up on some woman and how you should ask her out again and now you’re asking me out. I don’t understand.”

“Don’t you know, Swan?” he asking, eyes softening alongside his voice. “It was always you.”

All air seemed to rush out of her lungs as he spoke. The stress ball fell from her fingers with a faint thud but she barely acknowledged it. Not once in their entire conversation had she suspected the woman he was so hung on to be her. She always knew he found her attractive and enjoyed talking to her but never had she realized that his feelings had beyond simple flirtation and friendship. 

It was true in the past that she had turned him down. He had frequently asked her to go for drinks with him after his shift, but he had always taken her rejection with an air of nonchalance, as if it had meant nothing.

Obviously that wasn’t the case if this declaration was as sincere as it seemed.  Emma was a suspicious creature by nature, something her ex had left her with alongside her son. Immediately she began reviewing all of her interactions with Jones in her mind. Little things that she had always seen as signs of loyal friendship now seemed major. He had offered to look after Henry when she went to New York. He had encouraged her to get her degree in Criminal Justice when she had all but written off going back to school as too expensive. He had walked her through filing her restraining order against Neal. He had done all of this with asking for anything in return.

“I’ve gone and scared you, haven’t I?”

“I...” She couldn’t find the words. She couldn’t believe she had been so blind.

Jones was watching her intently, lips pulled into a tight frown. She had never seen him look so nervous. He placed the rubber band ball back down on Nolan’s desk.

“Right...” He looked away, tugging on his ear. “Look, Swan, I wasn’t proposing...I’m not even asking for you to return my feelings. I was just hoping to have dinner with someone I have come to care about. Look, just forget I said anything. I don’t want to make this awkward and ruin the dynamic that we’ve made. I value your friendship and I would do anything to keep it, I just” - “Yes.”

He blinked at her, obviously not comprehending what she had said. “What?”

“Yes,” she repeated. “I’ll go to dinner with you. At the excellently expensive family Italian place. And we can talk. As long as there’s cannolis. There’s cannolis, right?”

He stared at her again for a few moments. Slowly, a blinding smile spread across his lips and if her breath hadn’t been stolen by his words, it would have been taken by his smile. 

“Yes, love, there’s cannolis.” 

“Excellent.” She leaned back in his chair, regarding him with a small smirk. “I also have another condition.” 

“Anything.”

“I get to keep the jacket.” 


End file.
